


Fantastically Dressed

by fengirl88



Category: C6D - Fandom, Slings & Arrows
Genre: CKR Flower Crown Day 2019, Gen, Post-Canon, Quadruple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 16:36:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17410412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fengirl88/pseuds/fengirl88
Summary: Geoffrey sits in the bar in New Burbage, gloomily contemplating Sylvain Dupont’s drawing for Act IV Scene 6.Enter King Lear fantastically dressed with wild flowers.





	Fantastically Dressed

**Author's Note:**

> written for CKR Flower Crown Day 2019

Geoffrey sits in the bar in New Burbage, gloomily contemplating Sylvain Dupont’s drawing for Act IV Scene 6. _Enter King Lear fantastically dressed with wild flowers_.

What the hell was he thinking, letting himself get talked into this? Yes, his hair is white these days, but he’s not 60 yet. He’s too young for Lear. And he’s not mentally equipped for another monumental Shakespearean role with madness at its heart. Least of all here.

Nahum will do a great job of directing – Geoffrey’s seen enough of his work over the last decade to know that. But still, the only reason he’d said yes was to please Anna.

“Call it a wedding present,” she’d said, smiling. “To both of us.”

He hadn’t been there when she and Nahum finally tied the knot, and he was still just guilty enough about that to say yes. That’s the reason he gives himself, anyway.

It’s a good cast. Sarah and Patrick are coming back as Regan and Cornwall – a grim reminder that dying young isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a marriage in Shakespeare. Barbara’s niece Renee is playing Cordelia; she’s a rising star, and a better actress than her aunt ever was. Ellen, to Geoffrey’s astonishment, agreed to play the Fool (“If it’s good enough for Kathryn Hunter…”). He’s never seen the actors playing Gloucester, Edmund and Edgar, but Nahum directed them in that show he did in England with Talawa and he promised Geoffrey they’re going to blow him away. It’s so unlike Nahum to say anything of the sort that Geoffrey’s almost looking forward to it.

Almost.

Except there’s that cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. And the voice in his head: What are you doing, you fool? This is going to be worse than _Hamlet_.

It can’t be worse than _Hamlet_. Can’t be as bad. Because he’s not young any more. Because Oliver’s not here any more. Because Nahum loves Anna, and doesn’t need that kind of power over his actors. Because Geoffrey and Ellen have weathered so much over the decades, have a patchwork of scars to show for it.

Because _King Lear_ is the play that gave him back what he thought he’d lost for good. 

Geoffrey takes a deep breath and looks again at the sketch. 

The flower crown’s OK, but he definitely needs to have a word with Nahum about that loincloth.


End file.
